


Be Strong and Hold On To The Picture

by torakowalski



Series: If Home Is Where You Are [3]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Established Relationship, Friendship, M/M, mention of past alcoholism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 08:16:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4428044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torakowalski/pseuds/torakowalski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enjolras doesn’t want it to look as though he mistrusts Grantaire. Besides, asking Grantaire to check in with him every five minutes would be ridiculous. (Reassuring, but ridiculous.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be Strong and Hold On To The Picture

**Author's Note:**

> Another scene from this 'verse, set before the other two, while Grantaire is still on his round-the-world trip.
> 
> With thanks to Moog, who read this first <3

Enjolras can’t sleep. His phone is in his hand, set to vibrate with the sound turned up high, but every time he feels himself dozing, he jerks awake, convinced he’s missed a call.

It would be easier if he could text Grantaire, just to check that he was okay, but Enjolras doesn’t want it to look as though he mistrusts him. Besides, asking Grantaire to check in with him every five minutes would be ridiculous.

Reassuring, but ridiculous.

The alarm clock by Enjolras’s bed beeps once on the hour, every hour. He’s never been able to get it to stop, and neither has anyone he’s asked. Feuilly once got it to play a little song instead, but that wasn’t any better.

After the third time Enjolras has heard the hourly chime, he sits up in bed, pulls on the sweatshirt tucked under his pillow and decamps to the living room. He keeps his phone clutched in his hand, the pocket of the sweatshirt feeling too far away.

There’s a full moon tonight and it washes the chairs, the TV, the bookcases with a surreal silver light.

Enjolras blames that for the fact that he sees a figure curled up on the nearest sofa and lets out a startled yelp.

The figure uncurls and resolves itself into Jehan. He’s wrapped in a duvet, his hair tied in two long plaits down either side of his head.

“Hi,” he whispers, patting the other sofa cushion. “Okay?”

“Hi,” Enjolras whispers back. Normally he’d be hesitant about sitting down - he and Jehan don’t always know how to click with each other without Grantaire or Courfeyrac there to act as interpreter - but it’s easier in the dark.

“Here, have some blanket,” Jehan says. He spreads a corner of his duvet across Enjolras’s knees and leans back against the armrest, looking sleepy. 

“Can’t you sleep?” Enjolras asks. It’s a stupidly obvious question, but it should still get him the answer he wants.

Jehan holds up his phone. He’s clutching it in a very similar way to how Enjolras is clutching his. “Our little duckling is doing a scary thing,” he says.

Enjolras breathes out shakily. “Yeah,” he says in a rush, relieved. “I don’t think he knows it’s scary, though.”

Grantaire had sounded so easily casual over Skype earlier. He’d been tanned from the California sun, telling Enjolras about the new friends he’d made, and adding at the end, “And they’re taking me to Coachella tonight.” He’d said it like it was nothing, like he wasn’t going to be surrounded by alcohol and drugs with no where to hide, if it got too much.

Jehan laughs quietly. “He knows it’s scary,” he says confidently. “Not sure he knows how scared _we_ are, though.”

Enjolras nods. He picks up the edge of the duvet and fiddles with the poppers holding it closed. It’s Courfeyrac’s, of course, a Monsters Inc one Enjolras remembers from when they were still at school.

“It’s not that I don’t trust him,” he says in a rush. That’s important for someone to know, even if it’s Jehan not Grantaire.

“No,” Jehan agrees.

“It’s just.” Enjolras realises he hasn’t been holding his phone for the past minute and picks it up quickly, checking the screen then banging it gently against his knee when there's no message. He trails off.

“It’s just that you love him and want to make things easy for him?” Jehan says.

Enjolras closes his eyes. “Yeah.”

There’s a rustle of fabric and then Jehan’s head rests heavily on Enjolras’s shoulder. Enjolras automatically puts an arm around him. He feels completely unlike Grantaire, but he smells of the washing powder they both use and the cigarettes they both smoke. It helps.

“You’re wearing R’s sweatshirt,” Jehan says. It doesn’t sound like an accusation; he sounds pleased, but Enjolras still blushes, glad it’s hidden in the dark.

“Yes,” he says. He props his chin on the top of Jehan’s head. “What time is it?”

“Three,” Jehan says without checking.

“It’s still early in California,” Enjolras says. It’s going to be a long night.

“Good job we don’t have anywhere to be in the morning,” Jehan says. He yawns and hides it in Enjolras’s shoulder.

_Only work_ , Enjolras thinks, but it’s the same for Jehan, so he doesn’t say it. 

They sit there quietly for a long time, taking it in turns to check their phone screens, occasionally waving their phones around to check for signal. Grantaire doesn’t call. Enjolras tries to convince himself that that’s good, that if he was having what he calls a wobble, he’d reach out to one of the two of them, first.

“When he gets back, let’s do something terrible to him,” Jehan says at one point. The last time Enjolras checked his phone, it was twenty to five.

“Like what?” Enjolras asks. He’s so tired, he thinks he may be slurring. 

“Cover him in honey,” Jehan says. “Make him watch the X Factor auditions with the really bad singers.”

Enjolras laughs. “Serve him right,” he agrees.

Jehan hums. 

There’s a soft tread of footsteps behind the sofa and then Courfeyrac’s hand brushes the side of Enjolras’s neck. He’s pretty sure Courfeyrac’s other hand is somewhere on Jehan.

“There you both are,” he says. He sounds tired too, but the other side of tired, the one that happens after sleep. “Are you stepping out on me, Jean Prouvaire?”

“Mm,” Jehan agrees, reaching back for him. “We’re having a torrid affair on the sofa.”

“Thought so,” Courfeyrac agrees. 

He climbs over the back and settles himself on Jehan’s other side. Enjolras expects Jehan to transfer his head from Enjolras’s shoulder to Courfeyrac’s, but he doesn’t.

“Everyone okay out here?” Courfeyrac asks, deliberately casual.

“Fine,” Enjolras says at the same time that Jehan says, “We’re having a worry party.”

“Sounds fun,” Courfeyrac says. It’s getting light, now. He’s pretty obviously frowning. 

“Please don’t tell Grantaire,” Enjolras says. Grantaire is keeping in touch with all their friends, while he travels. He and Courfeyrac definitely gossip about Enjolras, sometimes.

Courfeyrac smiles at both of them. “My little worry bees,” he says, which isn’t a promise, at all. He holds out his hand. “Give me your phones.”

Jehan holds his out, but Enjolras hesitates, until Courfeyrac raises an eyebrow, creepily reminiscent of Combeferre, then he hands his over too.

Courfeyrac sets both phones down on his lap and pets them like they’re kittens. “Okay, I’m going to keep an eye on both of these, so you two can close your eyes for a little while. Sound like a plan?”

Enjolras feels as though he should argue. He’s so tired, though. “You’ll wake us if he calls?” he asks. “Or even if he texts or - ”

“I’ll even keep an eye on twitter,” Courfeyrac promises. He leans across Jehan to kiss Enjolras’s cheek, then settles back and kisses Jehan’s mouth. “Go to sleep.”

Enjolras’s insides are still heavy with worry, but Jehan is warm against him and he trusts Courfeyrac completely. Somewhere across the world Grantaire might be having a good time. Enjolras holds onto that hope and lets himself doze.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] The 'If Home Is Where You Are' series](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5602414) by [knight_tracer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knight_tracer/pseuds/knight_tracer)




End file.
